Book review: Reference and information services
Title of Book
Reference and information services in the 21st century
Author
Kay Ann Cassell and Uma Hiremath
ISBN
1-85604-598-6
Publisher
Facet
Publisher Website
Reviewer Name
Dr Helen S. Marlborough
Title
Senior Assistant Librarian
Contact Details
Glasgow University Library
Hillhead Street
Glasgow
G12 8QE
Review
I was intrigued by the title and loved the dedication to “the intrepid librarian of the twenty-first century”. Accounts of problematic situations such as ‘the intermediary’, ‘communication accidents’, ‘negative closure’ (aka the fob off), and “moments of flamboyance in reference transactions” are entertaining. Other ideas seemed more challenging. Could I “practice looking approachable” or “effectively leap reflexively”? What was meant by the “hierarchy of criticality”, the “pedagogical aspects of search strategies” or the model of an “information commons”? Perhaps it was the North American perspective, which, for a UK audience, undermines the value of the extensive bibliography of recommended resources and the Top Ten Sources cited at the end of each chapter. The authors are, respectively, Assistant Professor in the School of Communication, Information and Library Science at Rutgers and Head of Reference services at West Orange Public Library. Reference is made to some UK and European sources in some categories (a woefully inadequate paragraph on UK government sources). NEJM and JAMA are mentioned, but not BMJ or Lancet; terms to which the acronym AA applies include the bra size but not the Automobile Association; DARE is a Dictionary of American Regional English; the BBC Health on the Web is cited as a source of up-to-date information on medical news but NLH is not mentioned; ProQuest Dissertations and Theses are erroneously described as listing British and European dissertations and theses; Embase is not mentioned in medical databases and indexes. Thankfully, some UK sources are cited in the section on English language usage, and it was gratifying to find my own work mentioned (advice on indexing time lags cited, p. 48).
Quibbles? Misplaced confidence in some sources and inaccuracies, omissions, and lack of clarity in the database section. If only it were true that subject dictionaries cover “any and every word’. Newspaper databases are not mentioned as sources of obituaries; Ulrich’s Periodicals Directory is referred to as Ulrich’s International Periodicals Directory; Web of Knowledge is not mentioned, other than as a citation index. Practical advice suggesting exchange arrangements with other institutions based on bartering institutional journals is arguably of little value in the age of Google Scholar, open access initiatives and institutional repositories. Advice to weed ‘seldom used’ is not always a valid criterion if the source is used by a single researcher with an international reputation, and is “consistency and continuity” really achievable or even desirable in a collection development policy? Might fluid and dynamic responses to changing information needs be more important? The section on constructing a search strategy, described as “constructing the most effective search terms”, was less than helpful. What was meant by “democratic strategy”, “imposing a hierarchy”, “tentative ranking”, “stratification”, “limiters to coalesce the search”, and the need to “take control over idiosyncratic operator acceptances”? Advice is given on hitting the Return rather than Search key, yet no explanation is given of truncation, wild cards, quotation marks, proximity, plus and minus signs, matrices, or parentheses. The information literacy section is heavy with definitions and frameworks but light on practical implementation.
A more serious flaw is disproportionate detail on the traditional (history of bibliographies; definition and description of different bibliographical sources; descriptive definition of the ISBN) or self-evident (the advantage of electronic over print encyclopaedias) with only passing mention of newer technologies and no explanation of what they are or how they might be applied. I wanted to know more about live interviews, ongoing comment pages, cell phones with IM capability, podcasts, virtual and chat reference, RSS, blogs, and organising or archiving web pages. It was interesting to consider whether the balance between sensitivity and specificity and the subtlety of the comprehensive search strategy may be undermined by moves towards user-friendly federated searching and open URL resolvers, but what were these? In a 378 page monograph on reference services in the 21st century, the chapter on ‘When and How to use the Internet as a Reference Tool’ accounts for only 19 pages (including references and additional reading). The Models of Reference Service read more like a litany of tried, tested, and failed experiments in reference service reorganisation than a prescription for change.
So what are the book’s strengths? It is a valuable handbook for the novice that directs generalists to subject-specific sources and subject specialists to resources outwith their specialty. It is also a guide to US sources. Excellent practical guidance is given on processes and sources, the ‘how-tos’ of traditional reference service provision, and the behavioural elements of reference transactions. The authors point to the paradigm shift from information to assistance and facilitation, suggesting that in the 24/7, 21st century reference service, librarians will be “high tech and high touch” information consultants who address the challenge posed by Google/Yahoo by:
· Providing user-friendly, proactive outreach and support
· Providing tools to enable end-users to find and use value-added, evaluated, subject-specific, filtered resources that Google does not reach
· Providing instruction in search strategies, sources, and information competencies
· Responding to users’ values (immediate; interactive; personalised; mobile)
· Being competent in a variety of media
· Being able to market their services.
At the end of the day, expertise in answering queries and knowledge of sources are vital constants.